Projects within the SEAM-Cluster

In order to coordinate and harmonise the four projects SafeEV, ENLIGHT, ALIVE and MATISSE, the SEAM cluster has been established.

Main purpose of the SEAM cluster is to realise and monitor synergies between the four above mentioned projects on RTD and demonstration level and to execute joint dissemination and exploitation activities.

The SEAM project is co-funded by the European Community's 7th Framework Programme.

The main objective of this project is the development of a clear and practicable guideline for the virtual testing of small electric vehicles. This recommendation will include the test scenarios and the evaluation criteria as well as the advanced evaluation methods for pedestrian and occupant protection. This guideline will be disseminated to the relevant stakeholders as basic towards the virtual certification of small electric vehicles by 2025+.

ENLIGHT aims to advance highly innovative lightweight material technologies for application in structural vehicle parts of future volume produced Electric Vehicles (EVs) along four axes: performance, manufacturability, cost effectiveness and lifecycle footprint. The main target is to develop viable and sustainable solutions for medium production volume EVs destined to reach the market in the next 8-12 years.

In ENLIGHT each of the principal major weight-incorporating parts of a vehicle will be addressed directly by the five modules: a front module and central floor module, a front door, a sub-frame and suspension system as well as an integrated cockpit & firewall assembly. The specific objectives of the ENLIGHT project are on holistic and integrated conceptual design and manufacturing concerning how the technologies and materials addressed (in combination with materials / forming / joining processes coming from other previous and on-going projects) can be combined into a representative medium-volume EV by around 2020. This design is targeted to have a 20% additional weight reduction compared to the targets that are pursued in the complementary ALIVE proposal.

ALIVE is an EU collaborative research project that aims to develop key vehicle lightweighting technologies based on advanced metal and hybrid materials. ALIVE aims for application in near-future electric vehicles (EV) to be introduced into the market from 2020 and at a level of technology readiness that would enable mass production.

The key objective is to achieve affordable solutions for vehicle weight reduction, targeting a 45 - 50 % weight reduction of the Body-in-White (BiW) comparing to benchmark state-of-the-art EVs recently introduced to the market, as well as a 25 - 30 % weight saving in the hang-on parts, chassis and main interior sub-systems.

ALIVE is directly linked to a network of recently concluded, on-going and planned parallel activities and as such offers a coordinated platform within the context of the Green Car program for achieving an unprecedented level of impact with respect to increasing EU competitiveness through the development and uptake of real innovation.

MATISSE aims to make a significant step forward in the capability of the automotive industry to model, predict and optimise the crash behaviour of mass produced fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composite structures, which will be extensively used in alternatively powered vehicles (APV). The ability to investigate crashworthiness of FRP vehicle structures by numerical simulation is crucial for these lightweight materials to see widespread use in future cars. By delivering this ability MATISSE will lead to safer, more efficient and more desirable cars. Modelling tools will be further validated through two automotive solution components: adaptive crash structures and high-pressure storage tanks. Future crash scenarios will be assessed and new evaluation criteria regarding safety will be developed.